Challenge To Places Of Worship Act : Live Updates From Supreme Court Hearing

A Special Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice KV Viswanathan will hear at 3.30 PM today a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991.

The Act prohibits the conversion of the religious character of places of worship from what they were as on August 15, 1947.

The lead petition (Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India) was filed in 2020, in which the Court issued notice to the Union Government in March 2021. Later, few other similar petitions were filed challenging the statute.

The Union Government is yet to file its counter-affidavit in the matter, despite several extensions given by the Court. The Act became an focal point of public discussion recently in view of the violent events which followed the survey of the Sambhal Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh.

Follow this page for live updates from the hearing.